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Mostar has been usually very quiet in the winter season. Gone are the masses of tourists, cold winds and short days take people back home. This winter there has been some change. The city has commissioned a Christmas Market, something the city has been lacking in the previous years. My sister Jasmina and I visited it last year. While it's not so grand and pompous like the Christmas Markets in the rest of Europe it does bring people together. The market features a ice skating range, food, music, shops, drinks, horses, a big blue Christmas tree, and a little Coca Cola truck. I want to show you some images of it I made, so I hope you will enjoy them.

Though wintertime is in full swing, we are still enjoying sunny days. The mountains have yet to see snow. I am headed for another trip, this time to Munich, Germany, so I will be holding out on the last two parts of our USA Travel Series until I'm back next week, so that I can write them in peace. Until then I have another post from Mostar prepared which will go up mid week. Once I'm back we will finish off our USA Road Trip. I'm looking forward to your contributions in this weeks "Through My Lens". Thank you all for visiting and participating.

We had an amazing 5 days in New York City, filled with big city life and excitement. It was time to move on though and continue back to the states of New England and back to our road trip. We left NYC fairly early in the day. Rain started to fall somewhat and would continue to do so throughout the day, which was a shame since we had planed to walk outside a lot. It wouldn't hinder us though in enjoying the day. Our first stop was New Haven and a visit to the Yale University. We moved on along the Atlantic Coast towards Mystic and would eventually spend the night in the coastal city of Narraganset in Rhode Island.

The heart of Manhattan is Times Square. Its beating pulse can be felt from far away. Though a very popular tourist spot (read: lots of crowds) it's still a unforgettable place, especially at dusk and night when we visited. Our main goal was The Majestic Theater on Broadway where we booked tickets to see "The Phantom of the Opera". We booked the tickets weeks in advance and came to a sold out theater. Taking pictures there is not allowed during the play, but I managed to sneak some in. This is the final post from our stay in New York City, and I hope to show you some more highlights from our stay there.

There is something so charming about Christmas Markets, whether you celebrate Christmas or not. It’s hard not to get into a festive mood with hearty comforting food that warms your body and soul, the cheerful and lively atmosphere in the market squares, and the fairy tale surroundings (often majestic cathedrals or city halls serving as backdrops in a town that seems to have halted in time). For this weeks Through My Lens I will be sharing my personal favorites as well as some that are on my bucket list.

New York City is a city of skyscrapers. It's a concrete jungle, so in order to really appreciate it you have to go up and take an over compassing view of it all. And we did just that. We booked our tickets to the Rockefeller Center's Top of the Rock weeks in advance. As I have read online, and which got later confirmed to me on site, this is really the best observatory in the city. There are a few reasons for that. The views are not hindered by steel posts (like at the One World Observatory and Empire State Building) and second of all, it's centrally located so you get great views from all sites. It would be a shame to go so high up to take a shot of the city and not have the Empire State Building actually in the shot, now would it? So for that reason we marched Top of the Rock, and later on strolled through Uptown and visited Central Park as well. Enjoy!

New York City is upon us and for the first time during our road trip, we are staying put in the city for the next five days. I don't need to talk about the fact the New York City is a massive and big undertaking for the traveler, and that Manhattan is a city in itself, containing almost everything you could ask for in life. We had the luck of staying in a top apartment in West Village which is in the heart of Manhattan. Everything was close by and exploring the city via Metro and by foot was an easy task. We did so many things in New York City and want to come back for more. I will try to show you everything you need to know about this city in the next few posts. So I hope you'll enjoy them.

Vermont is known for its scenic routes. There are a lot of them, but the most popular seems to be Vermont Route 100. It's a rural two-lane road crossing the heart of the state. In this post we will take you along for a last countryside drive before we head into New York City. The day started fairly early in Burlington, where we had spent the night before. It was around 9 o'clock in the morning when we left the hotel and rain immediately greeted us. I was a bit sad since it had hindered us the previous day from really exploring, but as it would soon turn out, the rain would be the least of our problems as the day wore on...

When the weather outside is rainy and grey Beni gets dirty much more then usual. So bath time has to come much more often. I'm going to be honest, he doesn't like it, but he is a champ and pulls through. Of course as soon as he's clean again, he finds (sometimes even creative) ways to get dirty again. It's a give and take in the autumn and winter season. I hope your November isn't too grey and rainy, and to the other pet owners I feel your pain :) Thanks again for visiting and join us in another edition of "Through My Lens". If you haven't already check out our New England Travel series which is in full swing now, a new part is posted every other day. So make sure to take a look. Thank you!

Our New England Road Trip continues in this next installment and it's the most scenic one. We will be driving from North Conway and the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire all the way to Burlington in Vermont, and see some surprises along the way. As you will see we had some rain on this day. It didn't lessen the experience, but we just couldn't walk around as much as we would have liked. We did see a lot though. From the early start in North Conway, to the wonders of a fall forest, Vermont's hills, Montpelier, Stowe and lastly Burlington, where we spent the night. So come along and join us for a scenic drive.

Portland Head Light is truly a great lighthouse, located in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a head of land looking out towards Portland Harbor. It was completed in 1791, and it is the oldest lighthouse in the state of Maine. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the United States Coast Guard, while the former lighthouse keepers' house is a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park. We spent an afternoon there and visited Portland as well, which charmed us too. As you all maybe know I love lighthouses, so this venture was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

After a whole day of road tripping it was time to bring the second day in New England to an end. We had lunch in Newburyport and then we headed out to Portsmouth where we spent the night. Parts 2, 3 and 4 of this travel series cover our second day in New England. The charming towns we saw so far were once again present at the end of the day, and I think it shows in the images. I can imagine spending so much more time here. But we had more to see so we had to make sure that everything was covered. I hope you'll enjoy these images and on the third day we visited Portland as well as the Portland Head Lighthouse, another highlight of our trip.

All of this road tripping through New England in my latest travel series is making me yearn for home. So as a little break (though you should definitely visit the 3 parts of the travel series posted so far) I will be sharing some autumnal sights from home. Mostar is a very sunny city throughout the whole year and even in late fall you still have relatively warm days. Walking through the old town becomes a joy, but the rest of the city is worth exploring as well. Let me see sights from your corners of the world. You can link up the whole week, I'm looking forward to your shares! Thanks and have a great week ahead!

After our stay in Salem we headed down US Route 127 which is very scenic road in Massachusetts in order to see small coastal towns in the area. Our final destination for the day was Portsmouth, New Hampshire, but until we arrived there we saw a lot of really great towns. When you are on a road trip the main goal is to avoid the highways, so we tried or best to stay on the local roads. In between towns you can see lovely rural sights, amazing fall colors and a few glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean. In this post I will show you the towns: Manchester-by-the-Sea, Gloucester and Rockport, and the next post will cover the tows of: Newburyport and Portsmouth.

There were a few visual sights of our New England road trip in my head before we departed and the town of Salem was one of them. And why wouldn't it be? Its history is well known throughout the whole world. It's both macabre and fascinating, and a glimpse into the horrors of human nature. On the other side Salem is captivating for the colonial style houses, wonderful ocean front, and in fall, for amazing fall foliage covering the streets. So come join us on a exploration of the old witch town of Salem, Massachusetts.

We are at the start of a brand new travel series. This time Jasmina, Selma, Amer and I will be visiting the 6 states of the USA that make up New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) as well as the state of New York. It's a region well known for the rich history and wonderful colors of autumn. Luckily we managed to see a lot of beautiful fall foliage during our trip.

Pilgrims from England first settled in the region in 1620, forming the Plymouth Colony (a town which we would visit towards the end of our journey), the first successful English settlement in the Americas. Ten years later, more Puritans settled north of Plymouth Colony in Boston, thus forming Massachusetts Bay Colony. Over the next 126 years, people in the region fought in four French and Indian Wars, until the British and their Iroquois allies defeated the French and their Algonquin allies in North America.

I have returned home from my USA road trip through New England. My friends and I had a great time exploring this region and relishing in the amazing autumn colors. While I'm still in full edit mode right now, I decided to share some images from our trip in today's post. It's a quiet little scene just outside the town of North Conway. I spotted this railroad track going into the distance and we pulled the car immediately to the side. I love autumn and I love the railroad. So naturally both of those subject combined made for a great photo opportunity. I hope to be back on Wednesday with part one of the road trip series. Until then, link up with the rest of us and share your images!

All good things must come to an end and so does our New England road trip. We spent the last few days exploring Boston which is a really great city. Of course you can expect a full travel series of this road trip once I edit all the images. Until then here are some that I took with my phone camera. our flight leaves this evening so we'll spend some more time in Boston during the day. I leave you with these shots from Boston, including two from last nights Halloween celebration.

It's Halloween and as every year we celebrate the dark times. Halloween is the spookiest night of the year, where some people say spirits can wander the earth freely, and others say their children can wander the neighborhood unattended, trick-or-treating or causing havoc. Celts believed Samhain was a time when the wall between our world and the paranormal world was porous and spirits could get through. Because of this belief, it was common for the Celts to wear costumes and masks during the festival to ward off or befuddle any evil spirits.

Sometimes you need certain recipes to have in mind when company arrives. Appetizers are always a sure crowd pleaser and this recipe, courtesy of my mom, makes the perfect little "bites". It's so simple that you can take a look at the images and immediately know how to make these. But for the less equipped with that sort of talent, this post includes the recipe as well. These pockets have horseradish in them, which makes them spicy but at the same time so unusual.